Rudd Lubbers

Rudolphus (Ruud) Franciscus Marie Lubbers (born 7 May 1939 in Rotterdam) "went to the Canisius College in Nijmegen and studied Economics at the Netherlands School of Economics. He originally planned for an academic career, but due to circumstances beyond his control joined the management of Lubbers' Construction Workshops and Machinery Fabricators Hollandia B.V.

"He was elected Chairman of the Young Christian Employers Association in 1964, later becoming Chairman of the Catholic Association of Metalwork Employers and a member of the board of the Netherlands Christian Employers Federation.

"Later on from 4 November 1982 to 14 July 1986, from 14 July 1986 to 7 November 1989, and from 7 November 1989 to 22 August 1994, he was Prime Minister for the duration of 3 different terms of government. From 1995 to 2000 he taught Globalization Studies at Tilburg University in the Netherlands and at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University in the United States.

"In October 2000 he was elected as the U.N. Refugee Agency's High Commissioner by the U.N. General Assembly - following his nomination by Secretary-General Kofi Annan. He succeeded Mrs. Sadako Ogata of Japan, on 31 December 2000.

"On 6 September 2004 Ruud Lubbers received an honorary doctorate from the Radboud University Nijmegen."


 * Honorary Board, Green Cross International
 * Former President (2000-2000), WWF International
 * Commissioner, Earth Charter International